Shadows
by ShadowPenguin5
Summary: Clint gets a phone call during breakfast and has to leave immediately. The team wants to know what is going on. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first fanfiction that I have written, it is going to be multiple chapters. I hope you enjoy reading it.**

Shadows – Chapter 1

Breakfast in Stark Tower was anything but restful, especially for Clint. Being the designated cook for six people was hard work and when two of them could eat enough eggs between them to kill a horse it sometimes took hours.

"I'm hungry!" Tony whined, leaning casually against the counter.

"Yeah, well tough it out because it won't be ready for another thirty minutes."

"But…" Tony's complaint was cut short by a ringing sound coming from Clint's tracksuit pocket.

"Hi." Clint was relieved he didn't have to talk to Tony anymore.

"Agent Barton, its Hill." Maria's clipped tone washed the grin off Clint's face.

"What?"

"They found you; you have to move now!"

"Really, now… Ok I'm on my way." The serious look on Clint's face drew Tony's attention and as Clint made his way to the door Tony shouted.

"Hey, where are you going? What about breakfast?"

Clint gave him an apologetic mile and left the kitchen, bumping into Steve on his way through the living room.

"Clint," Hill's voice was sounding rushed and Clint could hear the sound of typing over the phone, "they're definitely in New York and we have to move. Get to HQ now!" She hung up and Clint put his phone back in the pocket of his tracksuit.

"I'm sorry guys, something's come up."

"But-"

"Steve can cook breakfast Tony" Clint smirked at the shocked look on the super soldier's face. He walked to the elevator, ignoring the disgruntled splutters coming from behind him and pressed the button for his floor.

xxx

Natasha woke up to the smell of burning coming from the floor below. She quickly shoved on some clothes and ran for the elevator.

The kitchen was a mess and, as she left the elevator, she saw Thor trying desperately to put out some bacon while Bruce watched in despair as Tony poured water on his blackened toast.

"What happened down here?" Her smile didn't go unnoticed by the billionaire, who said.

"Well, Legolas wasn't cooking breakfast fast enough so I came in here to talk to him but he took a call, packed a bag and left. Steve took over but couldn't work the toaster so I tried to help and then they woke up and tried to burn the Tower down." Tony's arms didn't stop moving as he talked and Natasha was worried that he would break something.

"Clint just packed a bag and left?" That didn't sound like him.

"Yeah, you really need to sort out your boyfriend Spidey."

Natasha rolled her eyes. Tony had assumed that they were dating from the beginning and over the two months she and Clint had been living in the Tower, and all of the pointed looks that they got at SHIELD base, they had gotten bored of correcting him. Tony took it as a sign of defeat.

"Did he say why he was leaving" She directed this question at Bruce but it was Steve that answered.

"No, he just said something came up. Why?"

"Excuse me for one moment." She left the kitchen.

xxx

Tony was getting very hungry and the hope of breakfast was getting slimmer by the minute. Thor slowly moved away from the remnants of his bacon. "Why does she not answer Steve's question?"

Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose and sat down at the table "Maybe she's going to find out."

"Or," Tony sat down next to Bruce, "she already knows and doesn't want to tell us."

Steve was lingering in the doorway. "If it's a SHIELD thing then they can't tell us either way."

"Doesn't mean we can't find out." Tony started pressing buttons on the table top and called on JARVIS to help him. "Hey J. Hack Clint's phone and play back the conversation he just had."

"That doesn't sound like a good idea…" Bruce started but was interrupted when Hill's voice filled the room.

"The found you…" the short conversation that Clint had with Maria was relayed to the other Avengers and left them more confused than before.

The silence only lasted thirty seconds before Natasha re-entered the kitchen.

"Sorry about-"

"Who have found Clint?" Tony asked a startled Natasha.

"How do… Never mind. I can't tell you, it's-"

"Classified, sure." Tony heard that word every other day form the spies and was getting sick of it. Apparently everything SHIELD did was secret. "Where did you have to go that was so urgent?"

"Umm… That's private, Stark. So, what's for breakfast?"

xxx

Where had she gone, she went to her floor to phone Fury about taking her partner away. Of course he wouldn't tell her so she would have to wait for Clint to text her about it.

"Crap," Tony's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, "what are we going to do about breakfast?" He tuned to look at everyone with genuine concern on his face.

"There's a patisserie just round the corner Tony." Bruce reassured the scientist. "I'll go get some breakfast." Bruce turned to leave when Natasha's phone started to ring.

Steve looked at Natasha who was looking tiredly at the small square of metal in her hand. "Are you going to answer it?"

"Uh, yeah." She pressed the green button and put the phone to her ear. "Hello." The whole room sat silently, listening in on the conversation. All thoughts of breakfast were gone from their minds.

"Hey Nat, its Clint."

"Where are you?"

"I'm on a jet to… I can't say…"

"Why?"

She heard Clint sigh and he paused before saying, "It's the Shadow, Nat. They found me."


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm really happy that people liked the first chapter. Thanks to everyone who read it. Here's the second chapter.**

Shadows – Chapter 2

Natasha visibly tensed and Thor turned in case she had seen someone. He caught Steve's eye and gave him a questioning look. Steve shrugged and Thor turned his attention back to Natasha.

"Are you sure?" Clint must have replied because she nodded and said, "Ok, be safe. Contact me when you next can." She paused. "Bye."

Natasha hung up and the team looked at her expectantly. "What?" She looked confused.

"Oh come on! Where is Bird Brain that's so important he can't spend five minutes cooking breakfast?"

"That's classified."

Tony slammed his fist on the table top. "But you can know?"

"Yes.

"If you don't tell me I'll find out myself."

"Fine, Bruce what did you say about a patisserie?"

"Yeah, I'll-"

"No it's Ok Bruce I'll go." Natasha walked out of the kitchen and got into the elevator.

The kitchen was left in stunned silence until Tony started playing with his computer again. Thor didn't know what he was doing but apparently Bruce did because he said, "Tony don't."

"What?" The billionaire tried (and failed) to look innocent, "I'm gonna find out what got Thing 1 and Thing 2's knickers in a twist."

"Tony," it was Steve's turn to be the voice of reason, "you know what Fury said he'd do if he caught you hacking SHIELD again. And who are Thing 1 and Thing 2?"

"It's a reference to a children's book." Thor was also confused about these 'Things' and was glad that Tony explained. "Anyway, Fury won't catch me."

"How can you be sure? I thought that no one would notice me when I…"

"Yeah, yeah Thunderbird. We don't need another one of your hour long anecdotes. I've found Clint's personal file."

"I don't think this is a-" Bruce was cut short by Tony's laugh.

"Clint grew up in the circus. I should've guessed. Anyway…" He started humming a tune Thor didn't recognise as he scrolled through Clint's file. "Here we go, says here that Clown boy is being _**shadowed**_… then it stops. Weird." He frowned and started reading.

The elevator dinged.

xxx

Natasha walked out of the elevator with the bags of hot pastry she had bought. The walk had given her time to think about Clint's position. The Shadow had been tailing him for months now, how could they have been so stupid to think that they wouldn't notice Clint do a small thing like save Manhattan.

Lost in thought Natasha walked into the kitchen. She didn't notice the men staring at her until Tony cleared his throat loudly.

"Excuse me Dolly Daydream but could you please explain what the hell _**shadowed**_ means?" She froze. Oh crap, Tony must have found Clint's file.

"You don't have to," Thor said sheepishly, "if it'll get you into trouble."

"I guess you already know too much anyway… It can't hurt."

"No it can't." Tony leaned in expectantly. Steve, Bruce and Thor looked unsure as to whether they wanted to know. The pastry stayed untouched on the kitchen table.

xxx

Steve was scared about what Natasha was going to say. He had grown to like Clint in the two months they had both spent in Stark Tower. The once distant archer had turned out to have a great sense of humour when not under Loki's control, but what could shadowed mean?

"It all started six months ago when Clint got a letter that had been sent to SHIELD," Natasha began. "It said 'You are being shadowed.' The Shadow is a spy who works for the Red Room-"

"That's where you were before SHIELD, right?" Bruce interrupted.

"Yeah, it's an underground, criminal group. Anyway, the Shadow became really big a few years ago, and they're good. Like, really good. No one has ever seen their face."

"And they're following Clint?" Thor sounded worried.

"Yeah, that's why he was watching the Tesseract, no one was really allowed to know where it was But he must have spent too long in New York and they must have found him."

"So, where is he now?" The concern in Steve's voice was obvious, especially to himself. Clint was an amazing spy. He'd be fine.

"I don't know. Too risky to say over the phone."

Silence enveloped the room and the tension could be cut with a knife. Bruce moved to the bags that sat on the table top.

"Don't let breakfast get cold." He said gloomily.

xxx

They sat in silence all contemplating what they had just heard. Bruce had interrupted the silence because he had started to see green. The assassin – Bruce didn't really like to dwell on what Natasha and Clint did for a living – was a friendly, energetic person who really brought the Tower to life with is heavy metal music and continuous rant about how SHIELD worked. If he had been worrying about this Shadow person for the whole time he'd been with them, Bruce thought that he was a very brave person.

xxx

Tony thought that Hawkman was pretty stupid – where is safer than with the Avengers? Also it was Stark Towers official opening ball in three days and he'd be damned if Robin Hood missed that.

xxx

Breakfast was finally over and everyone had gone their separate ways, Bruce and Tony had gone to the lab where they would spend the day doing experiments and blowing things up. Thor was going to meet up with Jane and Darcy. Steve and Natasha went to SHIELD HQ.

Natasha was a much higher level than Steve – he had only joined a year ago – and so left him to enter the building alone.

Steve could tell that Natasha was worrying about Clint. The drive to work was normally silent but today it was a much tenser silence than usual. The Shadow obviously didn't want Clint for a friendly chat.

Steve started the day doing paperwork from his most recent mission. He didn't get sent on many but the ones he was came with a shedload of documenting after. He really pitied the people in administration.

His day was quite normal (well, as normal as SHIELD gets). No one mentioned Clint or the Shadow, but, Steve thought, it was probably classified up to their noses.

Steve and Natasha got home – did he really think of Stark Tower as home? – thirty minutes before dinner normally was. Tuesday was always Chinese take-out. He turned to the red head.

"Any news of Clint?"

"I'm sorry Steve," she genuinely did look sad, "but even if I wanted to tell you I couldn't. It's… I just can't." She sounded exhausted.

"It's Ok, but when's he coming back?" Natasha gave Steve an apologetic look and got into the elevator, leaving Steve alone.

Steve sighed. Of course she couldn't tell him. Why had he bothered asking?


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews, they were so nice. And I really enjoy reading them. I've been trying really hard to get this chapter up but English Essays have been getting in the way. Please read.**

Shadows – Chapter 3

Three days had passed and still no word from Clint. No matter how many times she tried, Natasha's calls always went to voicemail. "Hey, its Nat. Call me when you get this."

xxx

Clint looked down at his phone. He was under strict orders not to contact anyone. What did this Shadow person want with him anyway? What had he done to piss them off this much? They'd only been big in the criminal underworld for three years but they already had a kill list as long as Natasha's, maybe longer. That was impressive, even for Red Room.

He'd been camping out in South Africa for three days - blending in to the mud-brick walls of his detached cottage. There was no one for miles so it was pretty surprising how good the phone reception was.

SHIELD hadn't given him anything to occupy his time so Clint had spent three days reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy again. He was getting a bit bored.

xxx

Tony looked at himself in the mirror. Looking good Stark, he thought, admiring the tuxedo he had bought earlier that afternoon. The Stark Tower opening ball was in only two hours. Every potential business partner for Stark Industries was going to be there so he had to look his best.

There would also be a lot of photographers and, if Thor could figure out which way round you wore a shirt, the Avengers would be attending – minus Mr Everdeen who was still… wherever he was.

xxx

Thor was not looking forward to the evening's event. Being the future King of Asgard he was used to formal parties but on Midgard why do they have to wear such uncomfortable outfits.

He pulled at the sleeves of his jacket but they wouldn't sit straight. He heard a knock at is bedroom door.

Natasha stood there in a floor length ball gown that shone white and sparkled when she moved. Her face had minimal makeup and her red hair was pulled up in an elegant bun.

"JARVIS said that you were having trouble with your suit. Need some help?"

Thor nodded and moved aside so that she could enter the room. He was a bit shocked by Natasha's appearance. Back home people didn't really show that much skin but obviously here it wasn't a custom to cover up.

Natasha stood in front of the God and started straightening his bowtie.

"Is Jane coming?" Natasha asked curiously.

"No, she has been caught in research that must be completed." He smiled. Jane had that effect on him.

"Ok, and Slevig and Darcy?" Natasha questioned.

"Are helping her."

xxx

Steve walked into the ballroom on the second floor of Stark Tower. Is tux was uncomfortably hot but Tony had insisted that they all 'dress to impress'.

The super soldier mad his way through a crowd of scientists, politicians and business owners to Natasha who was standing alone with an untouched flute of champagne in her hand.

"So what's the count?" Steve asked.

"Seven in one hour, three old men, three guys who couldn't keep their ands to themselves and someone who looked suspiciously like Stark paid him."

Steve sighed, at this rate Tony was going to win the bet.

"But enough about how many guys have hit on me," Natasha said with an eye roll, "who are you gonna talk to tonight."

"Oh, no thanks. I'm really not that kind of guy." Natasha ignored him and started scanning the room for suitable candidates.

"Hey Steve, what's the count?" Pepper and Tony appeared next to Steve.

"Seven, but I think your boyfriend has been paying people to hit on her."

"I have never!" Tony looked offended by the accusation.

"Oh, I have found one." Natasha exclaimed, turning to Steve. "Blue dress sitting at the bar. Just had an argument and stormed off. Easy catch."

Steve looked at the girl Natasha had described. She was quite pretty but he wasn't the guy who hooked up with girls at parties.

"I really don't-"

"Oh go on," Pepper persuaded. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Yeah," Tony joined in, "go on Spangles. You've got to get back out there at some point."

"Please guys, come on. I don't want to-"

"Take this Steve." Natasha handed him a small piece of black plastic. "Put it in your ear."

"Oh, I don't think that I need a comm link to hit on a girl."

"And who carries comm links with them to parties?" Tony sounded surprised.

Natasha sighed at Tony. "People who are prepared for anything." She turned to Steve. "You don't have to ask for help, but it'll be there if you need it. Now go." With that Natasha pushed Steve towards the bar.

Xxx

Natasha watched Steve walk away, shoving the comm link in his ear. She felt bit bad about pushing him into it but he had at talk to someone. She put he own comm into her ear.

"So Natasha," the CEO broke the silence, "have you heard from Clint?"

"No." Her tone was clipped.

"Oh, sorry…"

"Anthony!" A tipsy scientist clapped Stark on the arm. The couple turned, giving the spy a chance to slip away. She went to stand by a pillar with a line of sight straight to the bar.

"Hey." Bruce walked over to her. "What are you doing?"

"Cap's gonna hit on the girl in the blue dress and I'm watching to make sure it happens." Bruce smiled.

Natasha put a finger to his ear. "Steve, you've got to talk to her."

"Comm link?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah."

xxx

Steve turned to the girl sitting next to him. She had long brown hair that reached her waist and her sapphire eyes were red from crying.

With Natasha's persuasion Steve asked, "Would you like a drink?"

She looked up at him and replied, "I'd love one?"

Steve waved at the bartender. "Can we have…?"

He looked at the girl, "…a gin and tonic." She filled in.

"Two of those please." Steve handed the man some dollars. He turned to the girl. "I'm Steve."

"Claire." She smiled. Steve nodded; an awkward silence followed.

"Ask her who she's here with." Natasha's voice was slightly static in his ear.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"My father left his company to me and my brother. He decided, as the eldest, that he should do the boring business talk so I get to sit by myself." Her British accent became more prominent the more she talked. "You?"

"Stark forced me to come and then abandoned me. It's not really my scene."

"Doesn't look like it." Claire bit her lip. "Hey, I bet you I can get a cashew nut in that man's glass." Steve looked at her questioningly. She took a nut from the bowl on the countertop and mimed throwing it.

He grinned. "Bet you I can first."

"You're on." Claire took aim and threw. Instead of landing in the man's glass it hit his head. The man turned around.

Claire's eye widened in horror. She looked at Steve; they both started laughing. He was looking at her eyes. They were greyer than he originally thought. The mix of grey and blue gave her eyes more depth than he had thought. They also reminded him of something but he couldn't quite remember.

There was a clink of glass as their drink arrived. Steve went very red and turned away. Claire was also an interesting shade of scarlet. They both took sips from their drinks.

"You try." Steve was confused. Claire mimed throwing.

"Ok." He picked up a cashew nut, weighed it in his hand and threw it. The nut flew in an arch: it was going to land in the glass! Tony walked into the path of the cashew and it hit the side of his head.

"That was so going in!"

"It was not. My turn."

"No! I won."

"Hi." Stark was looking a bit miffed. "What did I just find in my hair?"

Claire looked a bit shocked. "Uh, um…"

"Sorry, it's my fault. Cashew nut throwing contest, bad idea at a formal party." He tried to look apologetic.

"Nah, it's Ok. Don't hit anyone too important to my business plans." He smiled at Claire. "Hope he's not boring you too much."

Steve looked affronted but Claire butted in. "He's very charming; you pick your friends well Stark."

"See you later." Tony turned to leave but mouthed 'Good Luck' before moving away. Steve let out a breath that he hadn't realised he was holding. He picked up his gin and tonic and drained his glass in one. Claire smiled at him. All of the sounds of the party faded into the background.

"Steve," Claire sounded almost pitying. "Oh, Steve." He tried to reply but his mouth wouldn't form words. He realised he couldn't move his toes.

"Steve," Natasha's voice was loud in his ear, "are you Ok?"

Steve focused on controlling his breathing. What was wrong with him?

"I'm sorry we had to meet this way Steve." An English accent broke through his haze. "You were doing so well but you made one tiny mistake." She leaned in and put her lip next to his ear. "You let me slip something in your drink." Claire stood up. "I'd say you were going to be fine but that would be a lie."


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to everyone who is reading this. I hope that you are enjoying reading Shadows. I'll try to get chapters up quickly but the school musical is sort of interfering with my free time.**

Shadows – Chapter 4

Natasha stood frozen; she'd heard the whole conversation. She watched in horror as the Shadow, Natasha realised that it was her, took the comm link out of Steve's ear.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you Agent Romanoff," Natasha committed the voice to memory. "If you want your Captain back all I ask for in return is Agent Barton. He'll know where to go." The Shadow dropped the device on the floor and trod on it.

Bruce was staring at Natasha but she didn't care. With a purposeful stride she set off towards the super soldier. The Shadow caught her eye and winked.

Suddenly all the lights went out; the room went deathly silent. Natasha could hear Starks voice as it travelled over the crowd. "It can't be a power cut, we generate our own-"

The sound of machine gun fire pierced the silence and screams erupted from the crowd as bullets tore through their evening wear.

Natasha lost sight of Steve in the pandemonium. She shoved her way through waves of hysterical people but when she got to the bar it was empty,

"Damn!"

xxx

Thor spotted Bruce standing by a pillar. "Doctor Banner, we must empty the building." The scientist looked at him and Thor could see flecks of neon green in his eyes.

"Yes, that sounds like a plan." The room was already half empty and the remaining guests were either fleeing for the exit or lying on the floor, injured or dead.

Thor wasn't really bothered by the bullets but he knew that if one touched Bruce the Hulk might make an appearance.

They made their way out of Stark Tower where they found Tony and Pepper. Tony had gone a bit red in the face.

"What? Who? Argh!"

"Calm down," Pepper played the voice of reason, "Tony you don't have your suit. You're not going back in there."

The gunfire stopped and the small group could hear sirens. Thor was still getting used to the constant activity that was Manhattan. It was so different from home.

xxx

Natasha got out of the building once the shots died down. Neither Steve nor the Shadow were in the building. It was all her fault; she'd convinced him to talk to her in the first place. To release some of her feelings of guilt she shot a few of the machine gunners with the handgun from her thigh holster.

How the hell had they got into Stark Tower with guns? She'd have to bring it up with JARVIS at a later date.

Natasha spotted the other Avengers and walked over to them.

"Natasha." Pepper sighed in relief. "We were worried that you'd been shot."

Bruce looked at her over the top of his glasses. "Why'd you walk off earlier?"

"Steve he-" She took a deep breath. "You know the girl that he was talking to." Everyone apart from Thor nodded. "She ummm, well turns out she was the Shadow."

A collective gasp came from the group before her. Pepper looked confused, but Natasha could tell she knew it was serious. "Is he Ok?"

"She took him. I'm going to SHIELD HQ."

"We'll come with you."

"No Tony, you guy stay here. Sort out the party. Fury wouldn't tell you what was going on anyway."

Xxx

Bruce watched as Natasha walked away, pulling her phone out of nowhere and speaking to someone.

"So the Red Room organised that?" Tony looked confused and angry.

"I guess so. If they took Steve maybe they're going to use him as bait for Clint," Bruce reasoned, "six months is a long time to, errr… shadow someone."

"I hope that the Captain is alright." Thor sounded concerned, hell, they all sounded concerned.

"We should sort out the party Tony." Pepper sounded close to tears. "There is going to be a lot of talking to do. Oh my God, how are we going to explain this?"

Tony put his arm around Pepper. "Don't worry Ms Potts, I'll handle it."

"Oh, I feel safer already." Pepper said sarcastically.

Bruce let out a tense laugh. "Let's get this over with then."

xxx

Natasha was still in her ball gown when she arrived at SHIELD. She strode towards Fury's office and knocked on the door. He normally made her wait a while before letting her go into his office, to test her patience, but only seconds later she heard, "Enter."

Natasha pushed the door open and stepped in, closing it behind her.

"Did you hear?" She was still afraid (less scared, more respectful) of him even after working for SHIELD for six years.

"It's already on the news." Director Fury turned one of the monitors on his desk around so that it faced Natasha. It showed a lie feed of Tony talking to news reporters, the sound was muted. "What actually happened?"

"The Shadow got Steve." There was no use beating around the bush. "What do we do?"

"We," Fury emphasised the word, "don't do anything. I am going to sort this out and you are going to do your job."

"Which is?" Natasha was confused.

"Whatever I need you to do. You are dismissed." He picked up the phone on his desk and made a call.

Natasha walked out. She was furious; he couldn't just leave her out of this process. She had to do something: she had a call to make.

Xxx

Clint's phone vibrated on the table in front of him. To answer or not to answer, that was the question. Days of only having himself to talk to – and he wasn't the best companion – had worn him down.

"Barton."

"Clint, hey."

"Nat? Hi."

"Listen Clint. I know that you're running away from the Shadow, but-"

"Woah, there. Who said anything about running away?" Did Nat think he was a coward?

"Fine, 'strategically disappearing'. Anyway, I don't know how to say this but… they've sort of taken Steve."

Clint froze. What the hell! The Shadow was after him, not golden boy Rogers. "Oh God. This is all my fault. What are SHIELD doing?"

"They won't let me know. If someone calls you tell me."

"Sure." That was a lie and they both knew it. He'd never be allowed to tell her. "Where is everyone else?"

"They're fine; they're talking to the news teams. Ok well, call me." Nat hung up.

Clint stared at the phone in his hand. He should have told her. He'd been in love with her for four years and never told her. Nearly killing her on the helicarrier had made him realise it was now or never. For the past few months he'd been working up the courage to tell her but now he was stuck in South Africa.

His phone vibrated on the table again. Two calls in one day, boy was he popular.

"Barton."

"Barton get your ass back to New York now. There is a car on its way to your location."

"If I can ask sir, why?"

"Captain Rogers has been taken by the Shadow and you have to get him back."

"How?"

"I'm sorry Barton, you're going to have to give yourself over to the Red Room, hostage situation Alpha Omega." It was like the bottom had fallen off his stomach.

"What?"

"It's the only way, we watched the recordings, she said do herself."

"She?"

"The Shadow. Agent Barton, it is your job to put everyone else before yourself. Don't make me force you to do this."

"Ok." Oh crap. How was he supposed to explain this to Natasha?


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to everyone who is still reading. If you have any ideas for what you want to happen feel free to tell me because I love to know what you think. **

Shadows - Chapter 5

Steve opened his eyes. He was tied to a chair in a completely white room. He tried to move his hands but they wouldn't budge. He could break normal handcuffs easily. What was wrong with him?

"Good morning." Steve hadn't heard a door open but it must have been behind him because he couldn't see anyone. "I see you're finally awake." He recognised that voice. He'd spent an evening laughing beside them.

"What do you want?" He felt her walk up to him and put her hands on the back of the chair.

"Oh no Steve. We don't need you at all. You're the bait."

"Barton."

"Exactly." She walked around him and he was shocked. Her appearance was so different to how it was at the party.

The Shadow's long hair had been cut short so that it stuck up from her head at uneven lengths. She had a black eye, a split lip and, without any makeup, she looked young: too young. She wore glasses that were too big for her face and gave the impression of an owl.

"Oh I wouldn't try to escape. Those handcuffs are made of vibranium."

Steve just glared at her. This was the person who scared Clint so much that he had gone to another country, now he was stuck as the bait.

xxx

There was a lot of tension in the Tower, Bruce was worried that it might snap. Tony was getting progressively angrier and the doctor had been hearing him down in his lab for hours.

It had been twelve hours since Steve was taken. Natasha had gotten back from SHIELD steaming nine hours before; she refused to talk to anyone and had locked herself in her room. Bruce and Thor were watching the news and surfing the web for anything even partially Shadow related. So far nothing had come up.

Refilling his cup of coffee for the tenth time Bruce sighed and tried to focus his eyes. The door from the elevator opened and a slightly crumpled Clint walked out of it. Bruce turned to Thor to check that he wasn't hallucinating; unfortunately he was asleep. Bruce turned back to Clint.

"Hi." The spy looked scared.

"Clint, what the hell are you doing back here?"

"Shhh." He put a finger to his lips."Don't wake Thor up, I want to talk to you."

"Ok," Bruce stood up and walked over to Clint. "What do you need?"

"I'm going to that Italian restaurant opposite the SHIELD base." The words tumbled out of his mouth as if he couldn't get then out fast enough. "Fury ordered me to hand myself over to the Shadow. It's an hostage situation Alpha Omega."

"What!? That's-"

"Shhh!"

"_That's suicide!_" Bruce whispered. What was he thinking?

"Bruce listen. You can't tell the others. I shouldn't even tell you, Council's orders. I'm going there because she sent me a letter threatening you lot. I need you to background check the staff and bomb sweep the building."

"You're giving yourself to the bad guys and you're worried about us?"

"I've got to go Bruce, I shouldn't be here." Clint avoided the question. He was being very serious and it was scaring Bruce. "JARVIS delete any security tapes from today with me in them."

Clint turned to leave but Bruce caught his arm. "Why are you giving yourself up?"

"It's my job," he put on some sunglasses and entered the elevator. Pressing the button for the ground floor he said, "keep them safe Bruce." The doors closed on his tired face.

xxx

Clint shouldn't have gone back to the Tower; he really shouldn't have told Bruce what he was doing. While the doctor was an Avenger, he was also a civilian.

Clint could see the restaurant where he was meeting the Shadow. He wasn't sure why she had picked that particular spot. It was opposite SHIELD so they could monitor what was going on, but wouldn't that put her in danger?

He remembered going to the restaurant with his parents before they died in the car crash, and after with his brother and sister every Christmas until... He did want to dwell on that.

The sun was shining and he was glad for the sunglasses he was wearing because he could see better in the glaring heat. There were a few people sitting outside but none of them looked how Fury had described the Shadow. He sat down at one of the tables to wait.

xxx

Thor woke with a start as he saw the elevator doors closing. Bruce was staring at them angrily.

"Doctor, what bothers you?"

"Oh Thor, you're awake." Bruce looked shaken. "I was just..." He trailed off.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I've just got to..." the doctor sat down on the sofa and started typing on a laptop. Thor moved to be next to him and tried to understand what he was doing. Unfortunately Thor didn't know much about computers so he got up to find something useful to do. He decided to go and see I'd SHIELD had found anything so he got in the elevator.

xxx

Clint was eating a pizza when he saw her. She casually walked towards him and sat opposite him. The Shadow was wearing sunglasses, like him, so he couldn't read her like he could others. He was good at reading emotions off other people but the sunglasses were a minor hindrance.

"I would have waited but I didn't know when you were gonna arrive." He offered her a slice of his pizza.

The Shadow didn't say anything, instead she linked her fingers on the table and lent forward in her chair.

"Fine," Clint turned serious. "Where's Rogers?"

The Shadow smirked. "Like I'd tell you."

"If I give myself over to you will you let him go free? He never did anything to you."

"Ahh but see it from my perspective." She picked up a knife from the table and twirled it between the fingers of her left hand. "If I give Rogers back to SHIELD, he'll know what I look like. He'd be able to give SHIELD information about me that I don't want them having."

"They ready know what you look like, Fury says Stark saw you at the party. And there's security footage."

"Well, footage can be easily deleted, you should know that as well as anyone. And you know a thing about parties." The knife stopped spinning. "You never know if what you see is real," she put it down on the table, "or slightly altered - like in a dream." A fork was now between her fingers.

"So you're saying that you're a fork?"

"No, I'm a knife pretending to be a... never mind. The point is you're coming with me and there's nothing you can do about it."

"I don't think that's true." Clint stood to leave and the Shadow mirrored him. A waitress walked over and he handed her a wad of cash. "Keep the change."

He walked away from the Shadow and she followed him. He steadfastly ignored the girl and crossed the street to go the quickest way to an alleyway where he could show her who was boss.

They reached a secluded spot and he turned to look at her, pushing his sunglasses up on his head. She followed suit, taking a glasses case out of her pocket and swapping her dark pair for a normal pair. "Why are you stopping here?" She looked up at him and her grey-blue eyes were so familiar that for a second he thought she was someone else.

"You need to stop following me; I'm not going to come with you."

"Not willingly." The Shadow took a step away from Clint. "Fine then, I'll bring you in with force."

Clint scoffed. "You? You're what, eighteen?"

"Seventeen, but I think you forget that I have one of the highest kill lists of anyone ever."

"You sound proud."

She smirked. "What else have I got to be proud of? Maybe you should take pride in your work, SHILED," she said it like an insult, "honestly."

Clint threw the first punch which she dodged easily. The Shadow tried to trip him but he launched into an flip backwards to kick her in the face. She ducked and they faced each other again.

Suddenly she was airborne and coming at him fast. Only because of his superior reflexes could he dodge her. Then she was behind him and knocked his legs out from under him. He struggled to get back up but she kicked him in the face and he felt his nose break. She did it again and he saw stars. The Shadow put her face right in front of his.

"Don't underestimate me again."

Clint didn't see the fist that knocked him unconscious. Black engulfed his vision and the last thing he saw was her face: those oh so familiar eyes.

**Sorry to the Hawkeye fans who asked me not to do anything mean to him.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks to everyone reading Shadows. Please review, I really enjoy reading your opinions. **

Shadows - Chapter 6

Thor crossed the road to get to SHIELD's New York base. Hopefully he'd be of some use to them, or they'd at least tell him how close they were to finding Steve.

The base was alive and everyone was busy. He walked over to the receptionist. Thor opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him.

"Mr Odinson. Director Fury wishes to speak with you. I was just about to call the Tower. Go to his office right away." Thor thanked her and set off for the office. He knocked on the door because, apparently, that was the polite thing to do on Midgard.

"Enter." The director sounded furious. He was one if the few people in this realm that could scare Thor. He walked into the room and gently closed the door behind him. Director Fury was pacing behind his desk, he was fuming and even without two eyes his glare could kill.

"What is going on?" Thor didn't understand why he looked so angry.

"Well, unfortunately the Shadow found the chip placed on Barton so now we don't know where he is."

"What?"

"Oh, don't give me that. We know that he went to Stark Tower before the meet." Fury was almost yelling.

Thor stared at the director in confusion. When was Clint at Stark Tower? "I don't understand what you are saying."

Fury sighed and sat down at his desk. "Never mind, I thought you would have noticed Agent Barton, or he would have warned you or something."

Thor thought for a second. "Bruce was acting weird earlier. Clint might have talked to him."

The director massaged his forehead with the tips of his fingers. "Doctor Banner? I'll try to talk to him."

Thor was still thinking through what the director had said. "Wait, what happened with the Shadow? Have you found her?"

"Oh," Fury sighed deeply, all the anger had left his posture. "I wouldn't worry about it. We'll inform you of anything happens."

xxx

Natasha was getting increasingly worried as to why Clint hadn't called her yet. She's been pacing her bedroom for hours, constantly checking her phone for texts or calls or anything.

Nothing, she had gotten absolutely nothing apart from a message about how much credit she had left.

If she stayed in her room one more minute she might start breaking things so Natasha got in the elevator and pressed the button for the main floor. She waited for ten seconds before realising that the elevator wasn't moving.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes Agent Romanoff."

"Why isn't the elevator working?"

"Doctor Banner requested that I not let anyone off their floor until he gave the all clear."

"What?"

"I'm sorry Agent Romanoff, but could you please exit the elevator as Doctor Banner requires it."

Natasha stormed off the elevator and called Bruce using the phone she had been so mad at a few minutes prior.

"Hello." The doctor sounded happy.

"Bruce, what the hell?"

"Oh, Natasha. I'm sorry about the elevator, JARVIS told me you wanted to use it but..." She heard a few bangs over the phone, "but umm. Well a bomb was found in the building and the disposal team thought it best if you and Tony not interfere."

"There was a bomb in the building and you didn't tell me!"

"It all happened so quick and no one was hurt. I was going to tell you later." Bruce sounded guilty. "Sorry."

"It's Ok, just let me off my floor."

"Yeah absolutely." He hung up and she waited impatiently for the elevator. Five seconds later the doors before her opened, depositing Bruce on her floor.

"A bomb. Are you serious?"

"It's a long story." She looked at him expectantly. "I saw Clint and he said the Shadow threatened us and to look for a bomb and something about a hostage situation..." Bruce was rambling.

"Which hostage situation?" This was bad; all of SHIELD's hostage situations were horrible ideas.

"Errr, Alpha Omega I think. Why?"

"Are you sure it was Alpha Omega?" He nodded. "Oh God."

"What's Alpha Omega?"

"It's a hostage situation where you hand yourself over to the bad guys to get a hostage back."

xxx

Steve had been moved to a different completely white room - at least he thought it was a different one. The Shadow hadn't visited again and he hoped that meant they didn't have Clint; he did not want to be the reason the archer died.

The Red Room people (what was he meant to call them, employees?) had been far from friendly but they had given him food. Not nice food but he wasn't going to complain.

The door opened with bang and he heard someone walk in. Why was he never tied to a chair facing the door? Then he heard the sound of someone being dragged across the floor.

The Shadow walked around him and leant against the wall facing him. "Hello again Steve. Look, we found you a friend."

Two bulky men had dragged Clint so that he was next to Steve and another had a chair that they quickly tied him to. Clint was unconscious and Steve hoped he stayed that way.

"So Steve. How are you? I hope you've been treated well." He glared at her. Why was he still there if they had Clint? "Well? You know it's rude to-" She stopped talking abruptly and stood to attention, looking at something behind him.

A deep voice spoke in a language he didn't recognise and the Shadow nodded and left. The three muscular men also retreated, he heard the door slam behind them.

"Good morning Captain." The man with the deep voice strode into his line of vision. "Do you think we should wake our friend here and have a little chat?" Steve couldn't place his accent, it was a mixture of English, Russian, American and many more. As if he couldn't decide where he can't from - or didn't want anyone else to know.

The man walked up to Clint and slapped him. The assassin jerked awake and he sat bolt upright in the chair he was tied to. "Hello, how nice to finally meet you Agent Barton." The man's eyes and hair were the colour of mud and Steve watched as Clint stared at him silently. "I am the man in charge of the Red Room."

Steve was a bit shocked by that. He'd expected the leader of the Red Room to look more, well evil. This guy was just some regular Joe who you'd see getting drunk at a pub.

"Let me tell you why you're here Agent Barton."

"Please, enlighten me." Clint's voice sounded gravelly, like it hadn't been used in a while.

"You see Clint, can I call you Clint? We've been looking for you for years, but you're good at getting away - hiding your face. However, you're not good enough. Do you like the Shadow, Clint? My little Shadow is very good at what she does."

He crouched down in front of Clint's chair. "I think you know why you're here Clint. Why don't you tell Captain Rogers before he figures it out for himself."

Clint just stared at the man. Steve couldn't read his emotions, he couldn't even tell if he was angry or not. Barton had shut himself down. It must have been bad.

Steve heard the door open again and he heard two people walk in. They closed the door and walked around him to stand behind their leader. One of them was the Shadow, the other was one of the muscle men from earlier.

The Shadow winked at Steve and then turned to smirk at Clint. That was when Steve realised why she looked so familiar. He turned to the archer who looked at him pleadingly, shaking his head as if to say 'don't believe them', but Steve stared at him in shock.

Clint had the exact same eyes as the Shadow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi, I may not update for a while but when the holiday starts I will be able to (hopefully) finish this story. I would absolutely love it if you told me what you think and how to improve.**

Shadows - Chapter 7

Clint could tell that Steve knew who the Shadow was, well kind of. He hadn't recognised her before because he had thought she would never get mixed in with this sort of thing.

"Go on Clint," the leader persuaded, "tell your Captain why you're here."

Steve was starting at him accussingly but Clint kept his mouth shut, that was what he was trained to do. He glared at the leader.

"Fine, Lily come forward." The Shadow moved so that she was standing next to the leader. She avoided looking at Clint. The other man moved to stand behind her.

"Clint, why don't you tell Steve here about how you abandoned Lily, your sweet innocent little sister," he pinched her cheek and she shied away from him, "alone and ran off to join SHIELD."

xxx

Steve knew he was staring at Clint but he didn't care. For one thing, he was a bit relieved because the Shadow - or Lily - looked like she could have been Clint's daughter, except she couldn't have been fifteen years younger than him.

However he was also surprised because abandoning small children didn't sound like something that Clint would do.

"Actually," the leader spoke, turning to the Shadow, "explanations can wait. I've got something I want you to see first. Give me your gun." He held out his hands and she placed the handgun from her thigh holster into it. "Give Anderson all of your other weapons."

Confusion crossed her features for a split second, but she did as she was asked. Steve caught Clint's eye but he also looked oblivious as to what the leader was planning.

The Anderson person out all of the Shadow's weapons in his pockets. They were mostly knives, Steve counted seven, but he also saw some, what looked like, miniature grenades and two bracelets that were identical to Natasha's widow bites - maybe the Red Room had given her the electrically charged jewellery.

The leader checked the gun and turned the safety off. The Shadow started fiddling with her fingers and Steve saw her steal a quick glance at the door. "I think, Lily, that you know what you did wrong."

She opened her mouth to speak but the guard with her weapons grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms together.

The leader pointed her gun at her forehead pointblanck. "If I shot her now Clint, what would you do?"

Gun still pointed at the Shadow's head he turned to face the two Avengers. Clint's face remained clear of all emotion and he didn't respond. The Shadow also looked calm, her eyes never leaving the finger on the trigger of the gun pointing at her head.

"Really, you wouldn't do anything." The leader sounded almost disappointed. "You practically gave yourself to us to try and save a man you've known for two months but you won't lift a finger when I kill your sister."

The Shadow moved so fast she was almost a blur. In a moment she had knocked the gun out of the leader's hand and taken a knife off the man holding her. She then proceeded to stab him in the chest and point the gun at the leader.

"Go on then," he teased, "shoot me. You know you want to." The Shadow hesitated and that gave him the opportunity to knock the gun from her hand while the man she stabbed grabbed her from behind and hit her across the face, knocking her to the floor.

"Your pathetic." He spat on the floor in front of her face. "Take her to be reconditioned, and deal with that." He gestured to the knife on the man's chest.

The Shadow was pulled to get feet and dragged out of the white room. Steve almost felt sorry for her, her entire life has just exploded around her in one day.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that. I'll leave you two to catch up. Don't worry, I'll be back." He walked to the door and Steve heard the door slam.

xxx

The four remaining Avengers congregated on the communal floor. They sat around the coffee table in the living room and silence prevailed until Natasha decided to break the ice.

"The Shadow has Clint and Steve now. What are we going to do?"

"I talked to Director Fury and he said that we should not worry." Thor sounded hesitant and Natasha could tell he didn't believe what he was saying.

"Yeah, because that pirate always tells the truth." Tony leant forward from where he was lounging on the sofa. "I say we find out where they are and get them out."

Bruce looked unconvinced. "How are you planning on doing that Tony?"

"Security cameras, how else. I can follow where the Shaodw took Clint." The genius immediately picked up one of his touch screen computer thingys, (Natasha wasn't sure what to call them) that seemed to be everywhere in the Tower, and started typing.

"You know Stark," Bruce chastised half heartedly, "it is illegal to hack government property." Tony rolled his eyes. Bruce smiled. "Clint said he was meeting her at the Italian restaurant opposite SHIELD so that would be the best place to start looking."

After just seconds of silence Tony stopped typing and sent the security footage to the main television screen so that the could all see it. They watched as Clint led the Shadow to an empty alleyway and was then beaten up by a girl almost half his age. She knocked him out and the screen went black.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked the automated butler.

"The security footage for this area has been wiped for the next fifteen minutes and when it can be seen again Agent Barton is no longer there."

"What about the Shadow, or any of her associates?"Tony commented. "Just show us the rest of the footage."

The television screen turned back on and the alleyway was indeed empty. They were about to turn it off when a flashing red light caught their attention. It was small but noticeable enough if you looked carefully.

"What is that?" Natasha voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Fury said throat a chip has been placed on Barton to track his whereabouts, but the Shadow found it." Thor looked like he had just remembered.

"So Fury was gonna track Clint and bust him out?" Tony sounded concerned. "And now he doesn't have a tracker Big Bird and the Star Spangled Man don't have a plan? Looks like we're on our own gang. Let's find our team mates."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi guys. I'm really enjoying writing this story and your reviews make it even better so please post opinions and thoughts on how to make it better.**

Shadows - Chapter 8

"So... You have a younger sister?"

"Yeah, and an older brother but, Steve, I swear I had no idea she was the Shadow."

"I believe you Clint."

"I genuinely... wait, what? You believe me?"

"I do." Steve shifted to face Clint and the archer copied him so that they were facing each other more directly. "I think you would have told us if you knew, or at least told Natasha."

"True." Clint hadn't thought about Barney and Lily in years because he'd assumed that they'd stated at the circus. "I'll tell you about her if you think it'll help."

"I don't know," Steve shook his head and a far away look appeared in his eyes, "but it would be nice to hear about your past."

Clint grinned. "Her name's Lily Charlotte Barton. She's seventeen, eleven years younger than me and thirteen years younger that Barney. Her birthday is the twenty-fifth of December."

"Really? Christmas?"

The smile slid off Clint's face and he looked away from Steve. "My mum was seven months pregnant with Lily and we were driving back from Christmas dinner at a friends when a drunk driver hit us.

"Dad, who was driving, was killed on impact. The surgeons tried really hard to save mum but it was her or the baby and they picked Lily. I think Barney always blamed her for mum's death."

"Oh Clint, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No it's ok." Clint interrupted. "It was seventeen years ago. I'm fine it's just-"

Sirens started blaring and the red light made the white room the colour of blood. A voice came through a hidden speaker but it was in a language Clint didn't recognise.

"What's going on?" Steve looked startled by the sudden noise. "I don't-"

The door to the room was thrown open and there was the Shadow, looking beaten and bruised, her silhouette thrown into stark contrast by the red light all around her.

Clint's neck hurt from twisting round to see her so he faced the wall. "What do you want?"

She closed the door behind herself. "Well the Red Room tried to kill me so I was gonna make a run for it but if you don't want to come, fine."

"Why would you help us?" Steve sounded disbelieving. "You brought us here, remember."

"Well," Clint turned to face her and she looked him straight in the eye. "Family helps family. Apparently." She shrugged. "You wanna come?"

"Sure." Clint answered and the Shadow produced a key from the pocket of her black jeans and quickly unlocked the handcuffs holding both men.

Clint finally had a chance to look at his little sister properly after eleven years. She was wearing all black and the tank top she had on was _incredibly _tight and showed off her toned body, but also a little too much cleavage, in his opinion. Oh great, he was becoming a protective older brother. Pull yourself together Clint, she's a master assassin.

"Shall we move? They'll probably be here any minute." She turned and left the cell at a slow pace. The men followed.

Outside of their cell she turned left and started jogging down the corridor. A shout came from around to corner ahead of them. Quick as lighting the Shadow ran forwards and grabbed the first guy's gun just as his group turned the corner.

Clint counted ten of them and the Shadow managed to take them all out in under a minute while the two Avengers watched in stunned silence.

The Shadow grabbed a gun off one of the dead men and turned back to Clint and Steve. "Arm yourselves and let's get moving; there's more where they came from."

"Where exactly are we going?" Clint took a gun and watched as Steve did the same.

"Out."

They continued jogging down the corridors of the Red Room facility. The groups of people were easily taken down by either the Shadow, the super soldier or himself. It was too easy.

"What gives?"

"What?" They slowed their pace to a walk.

"Why are all your guards so rubbish?"

She smiled. "We don't train them. Most of them are only for show and have no idea what they are really doing. Only select few are deemed worthy for the training and the others have seen too much to be let go so instead of dying they're given the choice to stay as mercenaries."

"And you're one of those lucky few?"

"Oh no, I was specifically chosen at the age of seven to participate in the Shadow project and over the past ten years I've beaten the competition and become the Shadow.

The little group rounded a corner and they could see a door ahead of them. The Shadow picked up the pace with Clint and Steve close on her heels.

"Leaving so soon?" Clint heard a gun clock behind him and they turned to see the leader pointing a gun at the Shadow's chest. "You're so useless." The leader took a step towards them and, out of the corner of his eye, Clint saw Steve point his gun at the leader so he followed suit. "Helping the people who you brought in."

"Well, at least they haven't threatened to shoot me yet today." She looked unperturbed by the weapon trained on her. "Which you have, twice now. Neither have they decided I need to be reconditioned, yet."

"So you're going to run off to SHIELD. You think that they'll welcome you with open arms?"

"No, I'm not that naive, but maybe they'll let me live if I bring them two of their finest. I think we'll be going now. See you in hell." She shot him in the leg and he retaliated by getting her in the side.

Clint and Steve backed towards the exit and they opened the doors, guns still pointing at anyone who showed their face. The Shadow followed them, despite the hole in her side and they open fired on anyone they could see before disappearing through the door.

xxx

Natasha had been pacing the floor of the communal living room for what felt like days. It was now twenty-four hours after Steve had been taken and twelve since Clint's less than successful meet with the Shadow.

She had hardly slept since Stark Tower's opening party and the only things keeping her on her feet were the twenty cups of coffee she'd consumed in the past hour alone.

Bruce and Tony were still typing away on keyboards while JARVIS used his facial recognition software to search videos and pictures around the globe, trying in vain to find their missing team mates.

Natasha and Thor had been feeling useless, not being able to keep up with the computer tech mumbo jumbo. They had been making increasingly frequent coffee runs.

Natasha's phone started ringing loudly and she immediately snatched it up and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Nat, thank God."

"Clint, where are you?" The rest of the team turned to face her at the mention of Clint's name.

"I'm at a gas station in the middle of nowhere with Steve and..."

"And who?"

"Just come and get us and I'll explain everything."

"Agent Romanoff," JARVIS's voice came as a shock and brought her out of the bubble that was her and her phone, "I've traced where Agent Barton's call is coming from. Shall I get a jet ready?"

"Yes, do that JARVIS. Don't worry Clint, we're coming to find you."


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks so much for all of the reviews. I love the fact that you guys are reading this, I have no idea how long it is going to go on for.**

Shadows - Chapter 9

The gas station that the trio had stopped at was completely deserted and looked like no one had used it in hundreds of years. Luckily for them there was a working payphone and, after taking some money from the till of the gas station's store, they managed to contact Natasha.

While Clint was on the phone to his partner, Steve tried to patch up the Shadow - maybe he should call her Lily - who had lost a lot of blood. She kept insisting that she didn't need help but she had gone very pale and her attempts to stop him getting close were getting weaker every second.

"Just let me help stop the bleeding." Steve looked sympathetically at Lily, who was leaning against one of the pumps but still standing.

"I'm fine, I can do it by myself just leave me be. I..." Lily slipped down the pump and sat on the floor, a pool of blood slowly growing around her.

"Why won't you let me help you? I won't hurt you."

"Because..." She closed her eyes and a single tear clung to her lashes, refusing to roll down her cheek. "I never need help. I don't ask for help and I don't get any because I can cope on my own."

Steve squatted down in front of her so that they were eye to eye. "But sometimes we don't have to." The tear wove a track through the dirt on her face. She moved her hands so that Steve had access to the wound.

It was very deep and he lifted his head to look at the girl who had kidnapped him only twenty-four hours ago. "I'm not going to let you die Lily. I promise."

Steve stood up and walked over to the small store by the gas pumps to look for anything that would help stop the bleeding. There were some simple first aid kits that contained bandages and gauze which he took. It wasn't like anyone worked there so who would know.

xxx

As soon as Natasha was off the phone with Clint the four of them made there way to Stark Tower's roof where a SHIELD jet was waiting.

Having collected their gear on the way up they all got on the jet where a pilot was waiting to fly them to wherever Clint and Steve were. The jet took off and the four Avengers sat down on the seats lining its sides.

Natasha recognised the pilot as none other than Agent Melinda May, an ex-field agent whom she and Clint had done some missions with before she had left the gun holsters behind. "May? I thought you'd taken up desk duty down in administration."

Natasha walked over to stand next to the pilot. "I was, but recently I've gotten back into the field. When your computer told SHIELD that you needed a jet Director Fury asked me to pilot because apparently you might need someone who can fly you and do a bit of leg work."

Natasha nodded. "And you'll take us to Clint?"

The sun had almost set and the glowing embers on the horizon made it hard to see much out of the windscreen. "According to the navigation equipment, Agent Barton is in the middle of Texas. It's a part that's been uninhabited for years because it's so dry. We touch down in one hour."

xxx

It was stupid of them to think that the Red Room wouldn't find them. It had been forty minutes since Clint's call to Natasha and he really hoped that she would arrive soon.

The three of them had retreated into the store because it was almost pitch black outside and who knows what wild animals were out there, attracted by Lily's blood.

They heard shouts and saw beams of light before the people themselves came into view. For a few seconds Clint had tried to believe that they wouldn't think to search the store, unfortunately luck wasn't on their side.

One of the Red Room operatives tried to open the door, which Steve had barricaded, and then looked throughout the glass. He must have seen someone's foot or something because he called his friends over and they looked like they were making a plan of attack.

"What are we going to do?" Clint turned to Steve. "We've still got the guns but they'll run out of ammo quickly."

"Well," Steve looked around thoughtfully, "maybe we could make something to force them to go away." He sighed. "If only Tony were here. He could build something."

"Uhh, excuse me." Clint was offended. "I'm not called one of SHIELD's finest for nothing. I once stormed the mansion of a drug lord with only a toothbrush, two paperclips and a novelty, inflatable saxophone." He paused at the looks Steve and Lily were giving him. "Never mind, don't ask. The point is I'm sure there's something in here that we can use."

Clint stood up and Steve copied him. Together they started searching the shelves for anything useful.

"Umm... guys." Lily spoke up from her position on the floor. "I think that maybe you should hurry up. They look like they've got a plan. Have you got anything useful?"

"Not much," Steve's voice came from the other side of the store, "a penknife and some matches. The rest is just food."

Clint was about to say he didn't have anything when some cylindrical containers caught his eye. The beginnings of a plan started to form.

xxx

Steve was in position when the Red Room operatives finally managed to break down the door. There were eight of them but it was hard to tell what they looked like because the sun had set about half an hour ago and it was pitch black.

He was crouching behind one of the shelves when one of the guys turned the corner to face him. Steve squirted him in the face with the liquid that Clint given him which was a mixture of bleach, lemon juice and shampoo/conditioner. Then, to stop him shouting out, Steve covered his mouth with a towel and hit him on the head with a frying pan to knock him out.

One down, seven to go, Steve thought as he crept towards the door. Hopefully Lily would have done her part of the plan and already be outside the store.

Lily had the penknife and she was meant to stab one of them and then get out first while Steve did his bit.

Clint was going to trip one of them up with marbles, disorientate him with a flash light, drawing all the operatives to him and then set the lighter fluid - that he had seen in the cylindrical containers - alight with the matches before escaping through the broken window they had made. Completely fool proof.

Steve had gotten out of the store and found Lily by the time he heard shouts from the men inside. He rapidly pulled Lily onto his back and started to run from the store before it blew up.

The fireball that consumed the gas station was quite spectacular but Steve was just wishing that Clint had gotten out in time.

Steve put Lily down on the ground and started calling for Clint. The fire was bright enough to give off a wide circle of light and,while it was nice to be warm, they would have to move before more Red Room operatives found them.

xxx

Tony had seen the explosion through the window of the jet. Agent May was getting ready to land so the Avengers checked their gear.

The jet landed two hundred metres away from the fire and Tony heard Steve calling for Clint.

"Keep the engine on." Natasha turned away from the pilot. "Let's bring them home."

The group ran towards Steve's voice but Tony spotted a body on the ground a few yards away. In his suit he easily covered the distance between himself and the other person in seconds.

The body groaned and rolled a bit, showing her face. Tony gasped as the Shadow looked up at him, pain etched in every feature, before she slumped forwards and lost consciousness.

Tony was about to tell the team what he had found when he heard gunshots coming from their direction.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi guys, you've been really nice and if you have any tips on how to improve my writing they are greatly appreciated.**

Shadows - Chapter 10

Steve saw the jet land, but he was so preoccupied with finding Clint that he didn't register what it really meant. Where was Clint? What if he hadn't gotten out of the store quickly enough? He'd be burnt to a crisp by now.

Thor reached Steve first but Natasha and Bruce were not far behind. Steve opened his mouth to say something to them but it turned into a grunt when Natasha shoved him and Bruce to the ground.

Bullets rained over their heads, some pinging off of Thor's chest. Steve reached for his gun and saw Natasha do the same. Bruce looked like he was concentrating hard and Steve was very glad he had such good control over the Other Guy.

The gunfire stopped and they heard shouts coming towards them. Great, more Red Room operatives. Natasha got up and brushed herself off, taking two handguns from her belt. Steve stood too and checked the gun he had taken off the man at the facility. It was empty. Natasha offered him one of hers and he gladly took it.

"You guys have no idea how good it is to see you."

Thor smiled at the compliment. "Why, thank you Captain. You are also a sight for sore eyes, but where is Clint? Is he not with you?"

"He was but... Oh no. Bruce why don't you see if you can find him. He's probably somewhere near the fire."

Looking glad for a reason not to get caught up in a fight, Bruce nodded and jogged off. The rest of the team turned to the men who had been shooting at them. They had turned their attention to a figure about one hundred metres away.

It was Tony and he was crouching over a body. Lily's body, how was Steve going to explain her? A hail of bullets was aimed at Tony and he turned to the gunmen and started attacking them with his repulsors. The rest of the team ran to help.

xxx

Bruce heard more gunfire coming from behind him and he turned to see a group of men start firing at Tony. The Other Guy was getting very agitated but Bruce had gotten surprisingly good at yoga and, he knew it sounded lame but, calming down had become one of his main talents - next to, of course, nuclear physics.

He was certain that the team could handle themselves against some men with guns so he focused on finding Clint.

Bruce could only imagine what Steve and Clint had been through in the past day. Fortunately Steve didn't look too battered, but then again Steve didn't try to antagonise his captors - Natasha had recently told the team about her and Clint's top ten mission failures, most if which included Clint getting beaten up and her saving the day.

The fire gave off an immense amount of heat and it had Bruce sweating before he was even close. An acrid smoke filled the air and the smell of burning gasoline made him want to gag. Better find Clint quickly.

xxx

The men were easy to take down and the four Avengers crowded around the unconscious Shadow. Steve was about to tell the others not to hurt her when he felt something grab his ankle.

His leg was wrenched put from beneath him and he fell face first towards the ground. Steve's hands didn't get there in time to stop his fall and his head smashed against the hard earth. His vision went black.

xxx

Natasha saw Steve fall and turned to see the man who had tripped him. She kicked him in the face; his head shot back and she heard his neck snap. They should have checked that they were dead.

Crouching down Natasha put two fingers on Steve's neck. "He's alive, just unconscious."

Thor bent down. "I'll take him to the jet." The Asgardian picked up the super soldier as if he was a child and walked towards the jet.

Natasha looked at Tony. "What are we going to do with her?"

The scientist crouched down and took the girl into his arms. "We can't leave her here."

"True," Natasha motioned for Tony to pass the Shadow to her, "but you'll be more help finding Clint." Wait, that sounded like a compliment. "Well, JARVIS will be a help." Natasha didn't want Tony's ego to get too big.

Tony passed the Shadow to Natasha and turned towards the fire. "Tony," she sounded worried and Natasha tried to push it down because no one brought out that kind of emotion in her, not even her partner, "I want him alive."

xxx

Bruce was getting horribly choked by the smoke but he was not going to give up. Not with Clint still to be found.

Finally he saw it, a body about twenty metres in front of him. Bruce ran forwards and knelt by it. He rolled the body over and there was Clint, unconscious but obviously breathing.

Bruce put one of Clint's arms around his neck and he held his waist, straining to stand under Clint's muscular form.

"Need a little help?" Bruce had never been so glad to see Tony and together they managed to carry Clint away from the fire and onto the jet.

xxx

Natasha knelt next to the unconscious body of the Shadow. She used some handcuffs to attach her hands behind her back and then to an armrest of one of the seats.

She heard footsteps and saw Bruce and Tony supporting and burnt and bruised Clint. "Breathing." Bruce confirmed when she sent him a questioning look.

Agent May turned in he seat. "You ready to get out of here?"

Natasha nodded and may turned away form them. The doors closed and the jet took to the sky.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, how are you guys? I hope that you're well. What do you think of Lily; good or bad? Please review.**

Shadows - Chapter 11

The Shadow regained consciousness half way through the flight back. She remained stubbornly silent and stared at the team for the entire time.

As soon as they landed a SHIELD medical team took Clint and Steve to the infirmary. Another group of agents took the Shadow to an interrogation cell.

Natasha thanked May and followed the agents with the Shadow. She'd have loved to go with Clint and Steve but Natasha knew, from past experience, that the medical staff didn't appreciate people hanging around.

The Shadow was cuffed to a chair in one of the many identical interrogation rooms. They were all bare with only two chairs and a table.

Natasha watched her through the one-way glass that made up one of the walls. The other (conscious) Avengers didn't have the security clearance to get anywhere near the room she was in so they had all gone back to Stark Tower to change.

Director Fury entered the room and Natasha stood attention. "That her?" He sounded hesitant.

"Yes sir, Stark found her unconscious and bleeding close to where Rogers and Barton were. We stopped the bleeding and removed the bullets that was in her."

"Who shot her? Barton?"

"It was a Soviet slug and it didn't match the gun that Rogers had."

"Then who shot her?"

"I don't know. She hasn't spoken a word, but I have a feeling that it was one of her superiors."

"She was defecting?"

"We can't know for sure, the Red Room uses extreme violence as a punishment."

"Alright Romanoff. If you want she's all yours."

"I can interrogate her?"

"You know more about the Red Room than anyone else at SHIELD. Maybe you know how to get answers."

Natasha nodded and moved towards the door to the interrogation room. It opened silently and the Shadow stared at her as she stood behind the table facing them.

"What did you want with Agent Barton?" The Shadow didn't respond. "Who shot you?" Still no reply, but Natasha had expected that. The Red Room trained you to keep your mouth shut and your ears open. However Natasha hoped she knew a way that might get a reaction.

_"What did you want with Agent Barton?" _The Shadow raised an eyebrow but didn't give any signs of being shocked.

_"Are you listening to me? I could make you tell me but I'm going to be nice and give you a chance to tell me on your own."_

The Shadow shifted in her seat. _"You know Latin is a dead language."_

_"Then why do you speak it?" _Natasha hadn't expected to get a response so easily.

_"Same reason you do. It's easier to learn a dead language than to make one up."_

xxx

Bruce didn't like leaving half of the team at SHIELD HQ. Especially when two of them had just got back from being kidnapped. He was, technically, a doctor for God's sake.

"Come on gang," Tony sounded weary, "let's clean up and head back."

They each headed off for their respective floors and Bruce jumped into a shower hoping that he could get the smell of burning gasoline off of his skin.

The group spent as little time as possible at the Tower and half an hour later they were speeding back to SHIELD HQ in one of Tony's flashy cars.

Not being allowed in the interrogation area, they headed for the infirmary to try to see Clint and Steve. Once an helpful nurse pointed then in the right direction it didn't take long for the trio to find the adjacent rooms.

They crowded into Steve's room first. Since there were no doctors in sight Bruce picked up the chart from the foot of the bed and looked at it.

"How badly has Steve been injured?" Thor sounded concerned.

"He's just bruised, he should be absolutely fine. Nothing's broken but he'll have a concussion and one hell of a headache when he wakes up."

"Good." Tony sounded relieved, Bruce never knew that he cared so much for Steve. They were always fighting and arguing but maybe that was just because they were so similar.

Woah Bruce, becoming a psychologist now are we? Leaving his thoughts, he followed the other two into Clint's room. His chart was a bit more worrying.

"Burns ranging from minor to basically still on fire. He's covered in bruises but he should be-"

"Clint?" Tony interrupted Bruce and they all looked down at the archers face. His eyes were opening.

xxx

_"What did you want with Agent Barton?" _Natasha's Latin was a bit rusty and she hadn't really used it since she had joined SHIELD because the only people who spoke it were either dead or Red Room operatives, but she remembered enough to get through a conversation.

_"What do you care? You got him back, right?" _She sounded slightly concerned. Why would the Shadow care if Clint survived?

_"I'm not going to ask you again."_

_"Then you'll never know."_

This girl was starting to annoy Natasha but she refused to let any emotion show on her face. _"Who shot you?"_

_"Why do you want to know?"_

_"Was it Agent Barton?"_

_"Would it really matter if it was?"_

_"Was it a Red Room operative?"_

_"Like you?"_

_"So it was. Why'd they shoot you?"_

_"None of your business." _The Shadow looked like she was about to stop talking. A glare crept onto her features. It looked out of place on her young face.

_"Why did they shoot you?"_

The door to the interrogation cell opened and Tony stepped in; he looked out of breath.

xxx

Tony could see Clint's blue-grey eyes. "Hey, wake up Legolas. Hello?" Clint tried to sit up but Tony pushed him back down. "You don't want to do that."

"Do they...have her?" Clint's speech was slurred and he looked pained. His eyelids started to droop.

"Have who?" Bruce moved closer to the bed. "The Shadow?" Clint nodded. "She can't get to you or Steve, don't worry. Natasha is interrogating her as we speak."

Clint's hand gripped Tony's. "You have...to tell...Natasha."

"Tell her what?"

"It's Lily. You have...to tell her...it's Lily."

"What's Lily?" Tony asked but Clint slid back into unconsciousness. Tony turned to his companions. "Do I tell Natasha?"

"You must." Thor looked concerned. "Natasha may understand his message better than we do."

"How are you gonna get to her though?" Bruce wrung his hands. "She's in the interrogation room. You don't have the security clearance."

"No," Tony smiled, "but Clint does."

xxx

"Tony, how the hell did you get in here?" Natasha was shocked by the Shadow looked unperturbed.

"Not important." He was panting like he'd run. "Barton said to tell you-"

"What?"

"Hold your horses, let me finish. Jeez, be more patient."

"Tell me what Stark?"

"That it's Lily. I don't know what that means. Do you?"

Natasha stopped listening to him. She turned to look at the Shadow whose eyes were wide.

Her eyes! How hadn't she noticed earlier!


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey. Thanks for reading and know that I love hearing from you. Also, I'd love to know what everyone's opinions on Lily are, if you'd like to review.**

Shadows - Chapter 12

Natasha looked at the girl who stared back in horror. _"He didn't know."_

"What did she say?" Tony was behind Natasha and she ignored him. She had eyes for only one person in that cell.

_"I swear he didn't know until I found him. If he had I - I - I know that he would have told you."_

_"He told me about you, years ago. He... I..."_

"Will someone please tell me what is going on? I don't speak gobbledygook. Who's Lily?"

"Tony, just...don't. It's not my place to tell you."

"Fine, I'll just leave then." Natasha didn't reply and she heard the door slam behind him.

_"You work for the Red Room?"_

_"I did."_

_"Did?"_

_"I helped Clint and Steve escape. Please, you've got to believe me." _There were tears in the Shadow's eyes. No, Lily, she was Lily.

Clint had told Natasha about his little sister once, just once. He never talked about his past and she never asked. All that she knew about was what she has read from his SHIELD personnel file - and Lily.

_"He told me what happened: about the last time he saw you."_

_"I don't want to talk about it."_

_"Well that's not up to you."_

xxx

Steve opened his eyes to see a plain white ceiling. Panic struck him as he thought that the Red Room had found them again.

"Steve clam down. You're alright." Bruce's blurred face entered his line of vision and Steve's senses became more aware of his surroundings.

He could hear the slightly elevated beat coming from a heart monitor and closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax. A dull pain radiated from between his eyes. "What happened?" His voice was gruff.

"We got you and Clint out of there. You're both going to be Ok."

"What about Lily?"

Bruce's eyebrows crinkled and he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Who's Lily?"

He pain between Steve's eyes was increasing and it felt like his head was going to explode. Bruce must have noticed that he was in pain because he passed Steve a pill and a bottle of water with the instructions. "Take this, it'll help."

The water cooled his dry throat and in no time he had finished the bottle.

"Lily, she's the Shadow."

"She's... Why did Natasha have to know that?"

Steve was confused. "I never said Natasha had to know that."

Bruce sat down in the chair next to Steve's bed. "No, you didn't. Clint did. He said Natasha had to know that it was Lily."

xxx

Natasha left the interrogation room and headed straight for Clint's room in the infirmary. She knew that a report would have to be written up about what had transpired in the room with Lily but it could wait until she had made sure that her partner was Ok.

Thor and Tony were with him when she entered the room. Clint was sleeping peacefully and he had a small frown on his face.

"Natasha," the two men stood up, "how goes the interrogation of the Shadow?"

"Well Thor, it's over. I've got all I can and now she's going to be moved to a holding cell before she's sent to the Fridge."

"Fury's sending her to the Fridge?" The trio saw Clint struggling to sit up. Natasha walked over to him and gently pushed him back down.

"It was that or kill her and I don't think he's all for murdering seventeen year olds. Who knows, she might reform." Natasha met his eyes and she could tell that he knew that she had gotten his message about who the Shadow was.

"So," she turned back to face Tony, "you gonna tell us what the gobbledygook was all about?"

"English wasn't working so I switched to a language I know she's been made to answer to."

"How would you know that?"

"Because I helped create the Shadow Project." The others turned to her. Thor and Tony looked shocked but Clint already knew. "I know exactly what she's been through; I went through most of it myself."

Bruce entered the room and the four of then turned to him. "Steve's awake."

"Is he Ok?" Clint sounded concerned and tried to sit up again but Natasha put her hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"He's fine. He has a headache but it's nothing painkillers can't cure."

There was silence for a few seconds until Thor spoke up. "I would like to see how Steve fairs for myself if that is alright Bruce."

"Yeah," Bruce seemed to pick up on Thor's hidden meaning, "you coming Tony?"

"Actually, I'm-" his reply was cut short by Bruce grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the room.

Only when they were alone did Natasha realise that her hand was still on Clint's shoulder. She removed it and sat down in the chair by his bed.

Clint chuckled. "Well, Thor's become more subtle with his hints."

Natasha smiled. It was great having the old Clint back. The Clint from before Loki and before he had the Shadow hanging over him.

xxx

Tony was getting bored of sitting on hard, plastic chairs in stark white infirmary rooms.

"You guys want anything to drink? Coffee?"

A round of "yes"'s and "please"'s and he was out of the door. He knew that the coffee the SHIELD stocked was horrible but it was better than nothing.

While he waited for the coffee to brew an alarm started to go off. Bright red lights flashing and sirens wailing. Commander Hill's voice came over the speakers. "Prison break code Alpha. The holding cells have been infiltrated. I repeat, prison break code Alpha..."

The holding cells. Natasha said that the Shadow was being taken to a holding cell. Tony moved quickly: he had to get to the Shadow before she escaped.

The hallways were filled with busy agents rushing around with guns. Tony made his way towards the holding cells where a lot of men were trying to subdue the prisoners.

Tony ignored the fighting and made his way towards the exit. The path became clearer as the agents made their way to the holding cells.

He heard fighting ahead and ran around the corner to see a tall muscular man take down five agents. The man moved and Tony saw that the Shadow was with him.

Tony picked up a gun off a fallen agent. "Hey, I thought we caught you already."

The large man turned; he had one of the Shadows arms contained within a meaty fist. Her eyes widened. "No, don't try. He'll-"

The man shook her violently. "Shut your face. You're in enough trouble as it is; you'll be lucky if you live."

The Shadow was still looking at Tony. "Run," she was insistent, "this isn't a fight you can win."

The man shook her again and then started smashing her head against the wall. "Stop talking. I'll make sure the Boss kills you myself. Traitorous bitc- where do you think you're going?"

Tony had tried to walk away but the man dropped the Shadow who crumpled to the floor, blood trickling down her face. He reached for Tony who tried to shoot him but his aim was awful without JARVIS.

The man's stride didn't even falter when the bullet ripped through his upper thigh. He grabbed Tony and his vision went black when his head was smashed into the wall.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to everyone who's been reading my story, hopefully it won't be too long. Please read and review.**

Shadows - Chapter 13

"Do you want me to tell you what she said?" Natasha and Clint we're alone in his infirmary room. He thought it through.

Of course he wanted to know what Lily said. It had been eleven years since he last saw her and he had no idea how she had turned from an innocent six year old, who cried when Clint got a paper cut, to an heartless killer, wanted by most of the world's secret services.

On the other hand, he shouldn't hear it from Natasha - he wanted Lily to tell him, but she was being shipped off to the Fridge.

"Yes, what did she say?"

Natasha looked Clint straight in the eye. She opened up her features to him and he saw that it was bad, it had made her think. He saw sadness in her expression, something that she never showed because she had been taught that it was a weakness your enemy's could exploit. He had to know what Lily said.

"She said that.." Natasha took a deep breath. "She told me what Barney told her had happened on the night she last saw you. She doesn't remember it herself."

"I told you what happened that night."

"She had a very different view on it. She said that Barney caught you stealing and you pulled a knife on him. Barney told her that you had threatened to kill her if he told but Barney got the knife off you and they had to run to safety."

Clint was shocked. His brother had turned Lily against him, and she had still helped him escape. "Natasha, I swear I told you the truth-"

"She believed what she was telling me. I know what you told me was true but for the last eleven years she had thought that you abandoned her."

"I have to tell her-" An alarm went off and both Clint and Natasha listened as Hill relayed her message. "The holding cells."

Clint looked at Natasha. "I'm on it." She replied and quickly left the room, leaving Clint by himself.

xxx

Thor heard the alarm and turned to face Bruce and Steve. "I must assist our SHIELD friends."

Steve needed and faced Bruce. "It might be best if you stay here."

Thor strode out of the door and almost immediately bumped into Natasha. Without speaking they made their way together to the holding cells.

A full on fight between the men from the cells and the agents was taking place. Seeing that the agents were slowly overpowering the convicts, Thor looked to Natasha who tilted her head towards a corridor. They made their way down it silently, passing the bodies of fallen agents.

"What is this?" Thor crouched down by a mark on the wall.

Natasha touched it and small flakes stuck to her fingers. "It's dried blood."

xxx

Tony slowly regained consciousness. His head hurt and opening his eyes was hard but eventually he managed to.

He was handcuffed to a chair in a plain white room. There was someone tied to another chair to his right: the Shadow. She was still unconscious, her head drooping onto her chest.

As if she knew he was watching her, she started to stir. Her eyes snapped open and focused on him. "Stark." She sat up straight and stretched her neck.

He didn't know what to call her back - Shadow didn't seem appropriate seeing as the people who gave her the name had just kidnapped her - so he nodded. An awkward silence arose and they both faced the wall ahead of them , not knowing what to say.

The door, that must have been behind them, blasted open. A man entered Tony's peripheral vision. He had mud coloured hair and eyes to match. The glare he was throwing at the Shadow would have made Nick Fury tremble in his steel capped boots.

"Look what you've done!" He was livid and Tony was a surprised that the Shadow didn't explode from the force of his gaze. Instead she looked back at him calmly, something that must have taken a lot of practice.

"You set two prisoners free," he slapped her across the face, "you killed our guards," he pinched her hard in the gut, "and you shot me." A carefully placed fist to the jaw had the Shadow spitting blood onto the pristine floor. She looked up at him and her eyes radiated pure hatred.

"And now I have Magnus telling me that you told this man," an accusing finger was directed at Tony, "to run. Maybe you don't understand, Lily, but our organisation doesn't take kindly to traitors."

Tony watched in silent horror as the man took a small knife from his belt and started running the blade over her arm, making an intricate pattern with the blood. "You know what happens to traitors Lily." She didn't even flinch but Tony could tell, from the clench in her jaw, that she was in a lot of pain.

Once the man had finished covering her upper arm in small cuts he stood and moved towards Tony, twirling the knife between his fingers.

"The great Tony Stark." He took the knife and plunged it into his thigh. Tony grunted but tried not to give any indication of pain. "I'll deal with you another time." He took the knife and left the room.

The Shadow let out a breath and turned to Tony. "Are you Ok?"

"Am I Ok? You're the one he decided to tattoo with that tiny knife of his."

"I'm fine, it probably won't even scar. How's your leg?"

"The knife didn't do too much damage, but there's not much I can do, being handcuffed and all."

"Don't worry, I'll get us out."

Tony scoffed. "We're stuck, handcuffed to chairs, in a cell in the middle if a secure compound. How the hell do you plan to get out?"

She showed him her hands, free of handcuffs. "They don't make child sized handcuffs, and my hands are very small." She stood up. "I also escaped from here before. I know my way around, I could do it again."

Tony was impressed. "Ok, let's kick some Red Room butt."

xxx

"So," Clint was trying to get his head around what Director Fury had just told him, "you're basically telling me that my previous kidnapper has got one of my team mates , which you have no security footage of because they hacked you, and I'm not allowed to go after them because I've been burnt."

"Yes." Fury turned, his coat fanning out behind him, and left the room.

"Like hell I'll just lie here and let you take all the credit."

He turned to face Natasha, who smiled at him. "And how are you planning on getting out of here?"

"I think you'll find I'm a master spy." Clint tried to stand up and fell straight back onto his bed. Natasha moved to his side and helped him onto his feet.

"Lets find the rest of the team then." She pulled his arm around her shoulders and smiled at him affectionately.

"Alright," he took a shakey step towards the door, "we've got some Stark Saving to do."


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey. My updates may become further apart from now on because exam season is upon me and I have Spanish and Science to prepare for. Please read and review.**

Shadows - Chapter 14

The job of telling Pepper what had happened to Tony was delegated to Steve so the team dropped him off on the way to Stark Tower. Steve knew that Clint was going to tell the rest of the team about Lily. Natasha probably already knew and Clint had told Steve the basics. Only Thor and Bruce were yet to find out, and Tony, but he would have to wait.

Pepper, being the CEO of Stark Industries, had a very intimidating office door. Steve didn't know what he was going to say to her; he was still a bit awkward talking to dames - women, he had to stop doing that.

Steve knocked and almost immediately he heard. "Enter."

He opened the door and Pepper looked up from whatever she had been reading. She must have seen something in his face because she gave him her full attention. "What is it? What's happened Steve?"

xxx

Natasha listened as Clint explained the basics of the situation. He didn't go into any detail, but she hadn't expected him to.

"What I don't understand, " Bruce had listened intently for the whole of Clint's short monologue, "is if she was trying to escape earlier, why did she go back?"

"We don't know if she went back to them," Natasha explained, "she could be anywhere, and if she did go back to the Red Room it may not have been voluntary."

"How will we find them?"

"That's why we're asking you guys Thor. Any ideas?" Clint looked around the group.

Natasha watched Bruce: he had spent a lot of time with Tony and if there was some way to track him, Bruce would be the one to know.

Lo and behold the scientist's eyes lit up. "His arc reactor!"

"What?" Thor had almost fallen out of his chair, startled by the exclamation.

"The element it's powered by, Starkium - at least I think that's what he called it. Anyway, it's the only bit of that element that's ever been synthesised."

"And?" Natasha was curious what that had to do with anything.

"We can trace it. It gives off unique energy readings. Wherever he is, we can find him." Bruce suddenly stood up. "I'll get right on it." He quickly left the room.

"What should we do?" Thor looked determined to help.

"Search the web, cameras, phone lines, anything to see if we can find him." Clint started talking to JARVIS.

"Cone on Thor." Natasha booted up a laptop. "Lets find our friend."

xxx

"If your hands weren't so damn big we'd be out of here by now."

"Well, I'm sorry. I-"

"Shhh."

"What?"

"Shhh. I can hear something." Tony strained his ears but he couldn't hear a thing. Lily - she'd told him to call her that - obviously did because she quickly moved back to her chair and slid her handcuffs back on.

Seconds later the man from earlier - Tony really needed to find something else to call him - opened the door and stood in front of them. Lily's face became a mask of indifference and Tony tried to copy.

"We've decided what to do with you two." The man clasped his hands behind his back. "Do you want me to tell you what we have planned?"

"Of course. Please tell us." Tony was beginning to get bored of the white room. He just wanted the man to leave so that they could escape.

He heard the door open behind him as the man started to speak again. "Too bad, I'm not going to. Have a nice nap on the journey."

Tony opened his mouth to reply but he felt a prick on his neck and slid into unconsciousness.

xxx

It had taken very little persuasion to get Pepper to leave Stark Industries. She and Steve had met the team at the Tower and, once Thor had explained to them what was going on, were eager to help find Tony.

"Argh, this laptop is infuriating!" Natasha pushed it off her lap and threw a pillow at it.

"They're too good." Pepper was avidly typing. "I can't find a trace of them anywhere."

"I'm going to see if Bruce needs any help." Clint walked to the elevator and the doors closed on him.

Fragmented conversations were becoming increasingly common. They had been searching for Tony for four hours straight and none of their approaches had born fruit, except maybe Bruce's, but no one had seen him since he entered the lab.

"I will get sustenance. Who is in need of coffee?"

"Actually, Thor, I'll make it, sit down. You know what happened last time you used the coffee machine."

Natasha exited to the kitchen while Thor muttered. "It was not my fault the men of fire came. It was not I who summoned them."

Steve continued watching news feeds from around the globe. None of them showed Tony or Lily but apparently some celebrity had given birth, or killed a baby, he couldn't tell.

Natasha passed him a cup of coffee and he thanked her but didn't look up from the screen. His eyes started to glaze over so he stood. "I'll see how Bruce and Clint are doing."

He got in the elevator and pressed the button for the lab. The ride took seconds and soon he was walking into, what looked like, a war zone.

Scientific equipment was strewn all over the workbenches. Computer monitors were all flashing different messages and making annoying noises.

However, the weirdest thing in the room was Clint, standing on a table with his arms held out and covered in bits of wire - a bit like what you would expect a robot's Christmas tree to look like. Bruce was standing next to the table attaching bits of wire to things.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Shhh Steve. He's in the zone." Clint talked quietly and urgently, the last person who had disturbed Bruce when he was in the zone had spent a week in the infirmary with a hulk's fist sized bruise on his stomach. No one ever made that mistake again. Bruce didn't acknowledge that Steve had said anything, or even existed - which was probably for the best.

"What's-"

"Done. Stay exactly where you are. Do. Not. Move." Bruce started typing at one thousand miles a minute. For a few seconds the only noises were Bruce's fingers on the keyboard and the various beeps from the computers around them.

Suddenly Bruce stood up straight. "That should do it." He turned and started when he saw Steve. "When did you get here?"

"Only a minute ago."

"Alright, well you can help me with the wires." Bruce started taking wires off Clint's arms one at a time. "Your arms must be hurting Clint."

Steve joined Bruce and helped him place the wires carefully on the table.

"Not really, its a common torture method and I can hold my arms out for ages without them hurting."

Bruce and Steve shared a look. None of the team were yet very comfortable when Clint and Natasha talked about the torture that had happened to them. It made them so angry that Fury let it happen to his agents.

"Ok, done." Bruce took the last wire off Clint and broke the uncomfortable silence. Clint jumped off the table and headed for the elevator with Bruce.

"Shouldn't someone stay down here, in case the computers find Tony?" Steve was still standing by the table.

"No," Bruce turned back to face him, "I've set it up so that it sends a message to my phone if they find anything."

The three men got in the elevator and joined the others in the communal living room. They continued searching the web for anything related to Tony's disappearance.

Bruce's phone vibrated in his pocket and all of them froze. He picked it up and looked at it.

"Where's Tony?" Pepper asked, she sounded worried and urgent.

"Russia."


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry, exam stress and writer's block is not a good combination. I also wanted to do this chapter justice. Please read and review.**

Shadows - Chapter 15

Tony woke slowly. He had a throbbing pain coming from between his eyes. For the first time since he was captured Tony wasn't tied to a chair or, as far as he could tell, chained up at all.

He opened his eyes and sat up. The room he was in was practically the opposite of the white room he was locked in earlier. It looked like the inside of a barn.

The wood panel walls looked like they had once been painted but the colour had long since been washed away. The room smelled of damp and Tony thought he could hear mice scurrying in the next room over.

Tony realised that Lily was not in the room with him. Where was she? What were they doing to her?

Tony had started feeling weirdly protective of the seventeen year old. He knew that she wasn't helpless, if anything she would save him, but nevertheless he felt that's she needed someone to look out for her.

The door opened and the boss person walked in. "Good to see that you're awake."

"Where's Lily?"

"That's not your concern; you've got bigger problems to deal with." Two bulky men entered the room and stood on either side of Tony. He tried his hardest to ignore them.

"What bigger problems?"

The boss took a gun from one of the men and pointed it at Tony. "I'm going to kill you." The two men on either side of Tony held his arms to keep him in place. The boss turned the safety off and put one finger on the trigger. "Shooting you would be too easy." He put the gun away. "So we're going to burn you alive."

One of the men stuck a needle in Tony's neck and he went limp. He couldn't move a muscle. "No one's coming to save you."

With that the three men left. Tony tried to move, even twitch; it was infuriating that he couldn't. He was going to be burnt alive and there was nothing he could do about it.

Tony always thought that if he was going to die - that is, if he couldn't transfer his consciousness into another body - it would be in a really cool way. Like trying to do a flip on a motorcycle over the grand canyon, or mauled by a unicorn.

No, instead he was going to be cooked by a psychopath while lying helpless on the floor like a kitten, or a puppy, he couldn't decide which he was more like.

xxx

Clint put the jet down where Bruce had indicated. The five of them had flown to Russia - without Pepper but they promised to call once they found Tony - in record time.

The farm where they landed looked like it had been deserted for years. However when Clint left the jet he saw tyre tracks that couldn't be more than an hour old.

There was a house and a barn surrounded by miles of overgrown grass. The Starkium energy readings were coming from the barn so the team made there way over to it.

An explosion made the earth shake and sparks shine in Clint's eyes. His ears rang and he saw the barn burst into flames. The searing heat reminded Clint of the gas station that had burned him. He involuntarily flinched and Natasha gave him a sympathetic look.

They ran towards the fire, Tony was in there, but they couldn't get close because the heat made their eyes water. A figure stumbled out of what must once have been a side door.

The group moved towards the person who had moved quickly away from the barn. The closer they got to the figure the less they looked like Tony. Clint put his guard up, it could be anyone.

The person started coughing and fell to their knees. Steve ran forward and Clint let out a warning shout that was drowned out by the Captain.

"Lily? Is that you?"

The person turned to face them and Steve was right, it was Lily.

"Steve?" She choked out and stood up, trying to reach them.

They crowded around her and Steve supported her, holding her up.

"Where's Tony?" Natasha asked quietly.

"He's in there?" She sounded confused.

"Yeah," Clint replied, "that's why we came here."

"I have to go back in to get him. It's my fault he's in there; if I hadn't drawn attention to him he wouldn't..." She looked guilty but determined. Lily stopped leaning on Steve.

"You should not go in there," Thor put a hand on her shoulder, "you will die. I am Asgardian, I have a better chance of survival."

She shrugged his hand off. "You wouldn't fit, the fire in the doorway leaves too small a gap. I have to get Tony."

She moved towards the door and Clint followed her, "Lily, please."

"Clint, I can't leave him to die." She was yelling. Clint didn't know what to say; his baby was willing to sacrifice herself.

Natasha stepped forward and linked her fingers with Clints. She held out one of her guns to Lily.

She took it. "What am I meant to do with this? Shoot him before he burns to death?"

"If it comes to that."

Lily turned and ran back into the fire.

Clint turned away and buried his face in Natasha's neck, not caring if the rest of the team saw his pain.

"I can't lose her again." He mumbled into her shoulder. The rest of the team moved to give them space.

"Clint, I..." She trailed off.

xxx

Tony wasn't scared of death. What he was scared of was not having told Pepper how much he loved her. He didn't deserve her and yet she'd chosen him. She meant more than the world to him and he didn't think he'd ever told her.

The door burst open and a silhouette was dark against the flames. "Tony we have to get out of here."

The fact that he couldn't move was getting very annoying.

"Are you...? Oh, come on." Lily crouched down next to him and looped one of his arms around her neck. She was surprisingly strong and managed to pick him up with relative ease.

The heat was rising rapidly and the air was almost completely full of smoke. Tony wished he could tell her to leave, run, go without him, but his mouth wasn't working.

Lily started coughing a horrible, wet, hacking cough that racked her whole body. Her stride didn't falter and she continued carrying Tony.

Beams had fallen from the ceiling and created flaming obstacles: a fiery maze, but he could see the end. His team were trying to pull away the burning wood that they couldn't bypass. Tony watched as Thor moved a beam with his bare hands and ran towards them, just as Lily collapsed.

She dropped Tony and gave one feeble cough before falling to her knees. Her body shook and she looked at him in defeat.

"I'm sorry." She choked and fell over.

xxx

Bruce couldn't really help the team through the fire. He was worried that the Other Guy might try to make an appearance. He watched as Thor lifted Tony and Lily easily and carried them back to the jet.

Bruce quickly put an oxygen mask on Tony but, determined that he was fine other than a simple paralysis drug that would soon work it's way out of his system, diverted his attention to Lily.

She has inhaled a lot of carbon monoxide and was bleeding from multiple wounds; what had the Red Room done to her?

He didn't know her blood type so he did the little that he could do. They would just have to wait and see.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi, so here we are in the final chapter, but don't worry I have a sequel planned. Thank you to all who have favourited, followed or reviewed: you guys mean the world to me. I hope you enjoy my last instalment to Shadows.**

Shadows - Chapter 16

Clint waited for what felt like days. Lily was in surgery and the doctors didn't know if she was going to make it. Natasha waited with him, her fingers intertwined with his. They sat in silence.

After hours of waiting a doctor entered the room. "Agent Barton?"

Clint stood up, Natasha by his side. "Is she OK?"

"I'm sorry, Agent Barton, but Director Fury told me he wants to talk to you about it himself."

"What?"

"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, he's waiting for you in his office."

The two spys turned and headed for the Director's office. It wasn't far and, without bothering to knock, they slammed the door open and entered.

Fury was behind his desk and only looked mildly surprised when the duo barged into his office. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Save it Fury. Why can't the doctor tell us if Lily is alright?"

"Because no one is allowed to know."

That gave Clint a shock. "So you're not going to tell me if my sister is alive?"

"Clint." Natasha's whispered warning made him turn to her.

"He already knows that she's my sister; I'll bet he did a DNA test on her as soon as they got her in."

"The Shadow," the Directors voice took on an authoritative tone, "has been on many government agencies kill lists and if they knew that she had been here, SHIELD would be swamped by them wanting information. I have also been informed that the Red Room have a search squad looking for her and so until such a time that she is not everywhere's most wanted her status shall remain unknown."

"Sir," Clint stepped towards the Director, "I just want to know if she is alive."

"Lily Barton's status is level ten classified. Don't bother asking again Agent Barton. You are dismissed."

The two spys left Director Fury's office, still in the dark as to whether the girl was alive. They knew that they would probably never find out.

"Clint, don't beat yourself up about it. She knew the consequences when she went back in."

"I was meant to protect her."

"Clint..."

"It's level ten classified. I know I'll never find out."

They had made their way into the gym and, finding it empty, sat down to change their shoes before sparring.

"Clint, I-" He cut her off with a kiss. His emotions were over flowing and he knew that if he didn't do it now he'd probably never got the chance again. She could die tomorrow and he'd have never showed her how he felt. After a few seconds of shock he realised that she was kissing him back.

They broke for air. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

Natasha stared back into his eyes and he saw what he had always hoped to see, her love and affection directed at him. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

A few hours and one very intense 'sparring' match later the couple entered Stark Tower. JARVIS informed them that the rest of the team was in the communal living room so that was where they went.

xxx

Steve sat on one of the couches staring at the elevator doors. JARVIS had told them that Clint and Natasha were back form SHIELD HQ and he really wanted to know if Lily was alright.

They couldn't all wait in the infirmary so the main group had gone back to the Tower to wash and change. Now they were all sprawled on the various couches that filled the communal living room.

Natasha and Clint exited the elevator and the team all looked up, wanting and dreading the answer.

"We don't know, Fury won't tell us."

"What do you mean?" That didn't make any sense to Steve.

"Her status is _level ten classified._" Clint impersonated Fury, even putting one hand over his left eye for full effect.

"That's completely-" Steve was interrupted by a ringing phone.

"Not me." Clint looked at Natasha.

"It's not me either. Is it yours?" She directed the last part at Steve.

He pulled the small object that Tony had forced him to buy from his pocket. "Uhhh, maybe."

He pressed the green button and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Capatin Rogers, are you alone?"

"Ummm, what one second." He looked apologetically at the group and moved into the kitchen. "What is it, sir?"

The deep voice of Director Fury sounded weird over the phone."I need you to come back to base."

"May I ask why, sir?"

"No you may not. It's classified level ten and you should tell your team that you will be gone for an undetermined amount of time."

Level ten, wasn't that what Clint had just said. "I'll be there in twenty sir."

Steve hung up and walked back into the living room. The team looked at him questioningly and he shook his head.

"Director Fury didn't tell me anything, all he said is I'm going to be gone indefinitely and it's classified level ten."

Clint, who had joined Tony on one of the couches, sat up straighter.

"That's all I know."

He left and reached the base in fifteen minutes. Maria Hill met him at the door. "What's going on Hill?"

"I'll let the Director show you himself."

Steve followed Hill through the corridors until they met up with Fury. "If you'll follow me Captain." Hill left them and Fury led him to the holding cells.

"What are we doing here sir?"

"Go on inside and take a look." Fury pushed the door open and Steve stepped inside.

Propped up against the wall on the floor in front of him was a seventeen year old girl with short brown hair and blue-grey eyes. "Lily." He breathed. The girl looked up at him.

"No," Director Fury entered the room and stood next to him, "Lily Barton no longer exists. This is Sasha Mathews and you will be escorting her to Operations Academy before joining her on the Bus to England where you will help her settle in with a new foster family."

Steve was in shock but there was a bit of Fury's message that didn't really make any sense. "The Bus to England?"

"That's something else I have to talk to you about. Come with me, both of you."

Lil- Sasha stood up and walked along side Steve to Fury's office. She smiled up at him and he smiled back: at least she was alive.

**Thanks again for reading and I hope that you will read the sequel that I'm planning, which will be in the Agents of SHIELD universe. **


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